What are the Roles for Women in Six Records of a Floating Life

There are two kinds of people in the world: men and women. The different sex usually decides the personality and ways of thinking of individuals. According to the ancient Chinese conception, the females are supposed to be submissive, and they are not hoped to have a lot of knowledge, just like the saying that innocence is the virtue for women. On the contrary, the males are anticipated to go to schools and support the family. Throughout the Chinese history, numerous litterateurs and scholars record the different roles of men and women in their works, and one of them is Six Records of a Floating Life. Created by Shen Fu, Six Records of a Floating Life is an essay which records the daily life of Shen and his wife, Chen Yun. The couple has similar hobbies and interests, and they often happen to have the same views. Besides, they hope that they can live a life where they can get away from the complex secular society and accompany with sackcloth, literature, and art. However, due to the oppression of the feudal codes of ethics and the limitation of practical life, they fail to make their dream come true. The roles for women in Six Records of a Floating Life are represented by Ching-chün, Han-yüan, Hsi-erh and Chen Yun, and all of them are restricted and affected by the Confucian as well as traditional Chinese ethical codes.

One of the roles for women in Six Records of a Floating Life is represented by the daughter of Shen-fu, Ching-Chun, who is a child bride. As a matter of fact, the child bride is a common phenomenon in the ancient Chinese society. For one thing, Ching-Chun is educated by the traditional conception which hopes the females to be submissive. Consequently, Shen fu’s daughter turns out to be well-behaved. In other words, she acts according to the words of her parents and grandparents. For another, the child bride can be seen everywhere at that time in China. As a result, when Shen Fu and his wife have to escape from the hard life with the whole family and do not have the ability to take their kids with them, they send Cheng-Chun as a child bride to a friend’s family (Shen 108). As a matter of fact, the one who will marry Cheng-Chun is, in fact, a man who makes no effort to make progress and just live off his parents. However, Cheng-Chun has no other choice but to accept her fate. What’s more important is that Cheng-Chun shows none objection towards the destiny of being a child bride and growing in the home of her future husband. Influenced by the temporal society and value conceptions, many child brides including Cheng-Chun even have no idea of opposing the decision of parents and pursuing their own life. Cheng-Chun is a typical role for in Six Records of a Floating Life, and she speaks for the group of the child brides in the society at that time.

Another typical role for women in Six Records of a Floating Life is Han-yuan, who is a courtesan. It is widely acknowledged that the women in the ancient Chinese society do not have the chance to receive an education. Furthermore, they are usually not allowed to show their faces in public. Under that circumstance, when limited by the living conditions, they have no ability to earn a living, so many females have no choice but to take advantage of their bodies for money. Moreover, there are also some low-income families who exchange their girls with the whorehouses for money. Unfortunately, Han-yuan is one of the unfortunate prostitutes. Limited by the actual life, these courtesans like Han-yuan inevitably touch the realistic parts of life, which results in their realistic personality. For instance, Han-yuan makes friends with Chen-Yun, who in fact receives criticism because of her friendship with a courtesan. Nevertheless, Chen-Yun does not break up with her friend and still gets along well with Han-yuan. The intimate relationship between the two ladies cures the chronic disease of Chen-Yun. When Han-yuan marries an excellent general, she does not reform Chen-Yun of the information (Shen 117). Finally, when Chen-Yun gets the news, she is disappointed with Han-yuan, which results in recurrence of Chen-Yun's past illness. Actually, most of the courtesans behave the same as Han-yuan. Restricted to their personal situations, they have to sell sex, and they have already get rid of the normal affections of human beings. In comparison, they may turn to have more interest and greed in money and abundant life.

Hsi-erh is the representative of a kind of roles for women in Six Records of a Floating Life, and she is more progressive when compared with the above two roles, Cheng-Chun, and Han-yuan. Hsi-erh is a sing-song girl on a flower boat, and she is different from the two roles of Cheng-Chun and Hsi-erh. Different from Cheng-Chun, who is arranged to be a child bride in the family of a friend of her father and Han-yuan, who earns a living through selling sex, Hsi-erh supports her life by singing songs on the flower boat, though she is also limited by the practical life. That is to say; Hsi-erh is a relatively progressive representative of the roles for women in Six Record of a Floating Life for she struggles against the hardships in life and tries to support herself based on her own ability and skills. Meanwhile, Hsi-erh is a nice person. When she plays the drinkers’ betting with Chen-Yun and Shen Fu, she drinks without any hesitation when she fails. However, she is still restricted by the traditional conceptions. As can be seen in the essay, Hsi-erh once fails because she cannot understand the literary quotation in Shen Fu’s words, and she misunderstands that Shen is speaking something wrong on her (Shen 98). Traditional Chinese conceptions believe that the females do not need to have a lot of knowledge, and that’s why Hsi-erh does not have the opportunity to receive education and understand the quotation used by Shen Fu.

Chen-Yun plays a more progressive women roles than Hsi-erh in Six Records of a Floating Life for she is relatively knowledgeable, and she tends to oppose against some complicated and unnecessary principles, though her opposition is not complete. To begin with, Chen-Yun may be the most knowledgeable female among all the women in Six Records of a Floating Life. As stated above, Shen Fu once uses a literary quotation which Hsi-erh cannot understand. At that time, Chen-Yun can understand that, and she explains that story to Hsi-erh (Shen 96). This part shows that Chen-Yun has particular literary foundation and can know some classical quotation. Chen-Yun's advancement is also reflected when she writes letters on behalf of her mother in law. When Shen Fu and his father are busy working in the Haining County, Chen-Yun will write regularly to express the feelings and greet them with the inspired words from Shen Fu’s mother (Shen 67). Apparently, Chen-Yun knows a lot of words and she can write quite well. Besides, during the time when Chen Yun gets along with Shen Fu, who is her husband and also a man with a lot of knowledge, the two people usually holds similar views, and they are like the soulmates who have the same spiritual world. Chen-Yun, a woman who never receives average education, gets on well with a knowledgeable man. Therefore, Chen-Yun is undoubtedly a female with knowledge. In addition, Chen Yun's progress is manifested when she obeys the real heart of herself and goes against the so-called rules which restrict the freedom of women. For example, Chen-Yun wants to enjoy herself in the banquet held by the Shuixian Temple, but she is a female who is not allowed to attend the banquet according to the family rules. Out of the curiosity of the interesting occasion, she conceals to her mother in law, dresses as a male and goes out with her husband, Shen Fu. It is quite obvious that Chen Yun is a lady with progressive value, and she is willing to follow her true heart and oppose against the unreasonable principles. However, her opposition is in fact not complete. She never goes against her mother in law even when she is treated unjustly. Honestly speaking, she behaves well in her roles of a wife and a daughter in law. Though she is well-behaved, she still cannot get the due treatment due to the limitations of the family conditions and the backward conceptions. In that situation, she just grins and bears the unfairness, and she even prevents her husband who wants to explain for her innocence.

It can be seen that there some limitations in the roles for women in Six Records of A floating Life, and the limitations not only are caused by the actual living conditions but also result from the deep-rooted feudal ethical codes. On the one hand, the women’ behavior are influenced by the traditional moral systems. To be specific, both the Confucian and the Taoism views affect the women a lot. For example, Chen Yun tries to be a model Confucian wife. She obeys the Confucian manners strictly. Every time when she meets her fiancé, she will give a salute to him, which makes Shen Fu feel uncomfortable. Shen Fu thinks they are intimate, and they do not need the complex manners. In that case, Chen Yun successfully persuades Shen Fu to accept the manners, which indicates that Chen Yun has recorded the Confucian manners and conceptions in mind. Moreover, Chen Yun is also impacted by the Taoism ideas. She believes the balance of the Yin and Yang. She thinks that the imperfect ending of her and her husband are caused by her husband’s strong love for her (Shen 119). It is because of the strong love that results in the imbalance of Yin and Yang and finally leads to the bad ending. On the other hand, Chen Yun, as well as other women in this essay, is oppressed by the situation. They all do not have enough ability, conception and courage to change and fight against the situation and limitation of the society, so they have no choice but to accept the fate.

Based on the above illustrations, it is quite apparent that Six Records of a Floating Life is a wonderful essay which successfully records several roles for women. The first one is Cheng-Chun, who represents the group of child brides who have no ability to make their own decision and whose life is determined by a young age. The second one is Han-yuan, who is restricted by the practical life and has to sell sex for a living. Another common role for women is Hsi-erh. She is a courtesan, and she eventually puts forward in the life of abundant life and forgets the past affection. The most representative role for women in this essay is Chen Yun, who is the wife of the author, Shen Fu. She is somewhat progressive but in an incomplete way. All the limitations of the roles for these women are caused by the influence of the traditional ethical codes and the realistic situation.